Gold and Glory: Brazil and the 2016 Olympics

Millions from around the globe are about to descend upon Rio de Janeiro for the upcoming Summer Olympics in Brazil on August 5, 2016. As the country prepares for this international onslaught of athletes and attendees, Brazil has been beset by many challenges as the host of the Summer Games, including a beleaguered police force.

But what interests me the most about Brazil’s hosting of the 2016 Olympics is what the games mean for its national image. Like it or not, every country has a certain perception in the world, a “brand,” if you will. If I was in a focus group for the International Olympics Committee (IOC) back in 2006 – which was when Rio’s bid for the 2016 Summer Games began – and a moderator asked me what are the first things that come to mind when I hear “Brazil,” I would answer, “Samba, soccer, steakhouses, and a people with a love affair for the derrière.”

It definitely wouldn’t have been a place I would have chosen to host the Olympic Games, but here we are in 2016 with the opening ceremony a little more than a week away.

Brazil is no stranger to large, international sporting events taking place on its soil and hosted the FIFA World Cup not once, but twice. It is also the “B” in BRICS, which is an acronym for the five major emerging national economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. It’s a nation to be reckoned with, for sure.

Still, it’s one thing for a country to have a GDP that ranks in the top 10 worldwide, but it’s quite another for it to host the largest sporting event in the world.

For the nations that receive the honor of hosting the games, a degree of prestige is bestowed upon them as well as a sense of “We’ve made it,” possible negative fiscal impacts aside. A good example of this was the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo. Less than a generation after Japan had been devastated in World War II, the island nation rose like a phoenix out of the ashes, and the world caught a glimpse of the economic powerhouse it would become. Whether or not Brazil will have a similar “Cinderella Story” for its Olympics remains to be seen.

All eyes will be on Rio next Friday as the first nation on the South American continent hosts the Olympics. Brazil – it’s time to put your best Samba sandal forward and show the world what you got by shaking your scantily clad tail feather (literally)!